UFC signs Andre Fili to meet Jeremy Larsen at UFC 166 in Houston

Following Charles Oliveira‘s removal from the card with an injury, the UFC has a replacement for Jeremy Larsen.

The promotion has signed Andre Fili (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who now will meet Larsen (8-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in a featherweight bout at UFC 166 later this month. Promotion officials announced Fili’s signing and the new fight booking on Monday.

UFC 166 takes place Oct. 19 at Houston’s Toyota Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook. Oliveira vs. Larsen was scheduled for the Facebook stream.

“Touchy” Fili, who trains at Team Alpha Male, enters the UFC on an eight-fight winning streak that is well-rounded with a trio of submissions, a pair of TKOs and three decisions. It’s been more than three years since his lone professional loss, which came as a TKO due to an injury. In all, nine of Fili’s 12 wins have been by stoppage.

Larsen will be looking to rebound from back-to-back losses in the UFC. The veteran of Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter” was stopped by Joe Proctor a the TUF 15 Finale, then suffered a knockout loss to Lucas Martins at UFC on FX 8 in May.

Oliveira (16-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) was looking to end a two-fight losing skid of his own at UFC 166, which was going to be a home fight for him as the only Houston-area fighter on the card. But a leg injury took him off the show.

With the change, the UFC 166 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos – for heavyweight title
• Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson
• Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shawn Jordan
• John Dodson vs. Darrell Montague

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Tim Boetsch vs. CB Dollaway
• Hector Lombard vs. Nate Marquardt
• Jessica Eye vs. Sarah Kaufman
• K.J. Noons vs. George Sotiropoulos

PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 6 p.m. ET)

• Adlan Amagov vs. T.J. Waldburger
• Tony Ferguson vs. Mike Rio
• Andre Fili vs. Jeremy Larsen
• Kyogi Horiguchi vs. Dustin Pague

For the latest on UFC 166, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jeremy Larsen)